Department News - Accounting

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Lillian Mills Named as AAA Presidential Scholar

Lillian Mills, the Beverly H. and William P. O'Hara Chair in Business, has been named as one of two 2018 Presidential Scholars by the American Accounting Association (AAA). She will deliver her first Presidential Research Lecture at the August 2018 AAA Annual Meeting in Washington DC.

The Board of Directors of the AAA recommended the commission of a series of Presidential Research Lectures, to be delivered at the Annual Meetings of the Association. To encourage broad dissemination, the Board has requested that The Accounting Review publish these lectures. The first lecture was presented in 1999.

Welcome the New Department of Accounting Chair!

As of August 31, 2018, Robert Freeman will step down after three years as Chair of the Accounting Department. Please join us in thanking Robert for all he has done to enhance the quality of our curricula and teaching, and the impact of our research.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Clement as Chair of the Accounting Department beginning September 1, 2018.

Michael Clement is the KPMG Centennial Professor of Accounting at McCombs. He received his Ph.D. in Accounting from Stanford University in 1997, his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago in 1988, and his BBA from Baruch College in 1980. After completing his Ph.D., he joined the Department of Accounting at Texas McCombs as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 2004, and then to professor in 2011.

His private industry experience includes serving as VP, Global Investment Research for Goldman Sachs & Co., and VP, Capital Planning and Analysis for Citicorp. He also worked at Deloitte, Haskins, and Sells as a Senior Assistant Accountant.

Michael’s research and teaching interests include capital market use of financial information for valuation purposes, with particular interests in management disclosures and the activities of financial analysts. His widely-published and influential work appears in the top journals in accounting, finance, and management, including the Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Finance, the Academy of Management Journal, among others.

He has served on the dissertation committees for over 16 candidates and has served the School, University, and Provost in 35 different positions of advisement and oversight. He was the winner of the Ernst & Young Inclusive Excellence Award in 2009 in honor of his commitment to diversity and inclusiveness at the university. In 2015, Michael was inducted into the Ph.D. Project Hall of Fame in recognition of his work encouraging minority business doctoral students.

Michael’s research, teaching, and service has prepared him well for this new role, and we hope you will join us in congratulating him.

For 26 years in a row, McCombs has placed first or second in the undergraduate rankings.

McCombs has led the master's program rankings for 23 out of the past 24 years.

Our doctoral program has taken the No.1 spot 14 times in the last 16 years.

The PAR is billed as “the independent newsletter of the accounting profession since 1978.” For the undergraduate and graduate rankings, professors for the past 35 years have been asked to rank programs at American colleges and universities on a 1 to 10 scale on the single question, “Which programs consistently turn out students capable of some day attaining partner status?”
In the doctoral rankings, professors are asked to name the programs they most regard for turning out accounting professors.

We are extremely excited the PAR once again recognized us for our superior faculty, students, and programs. Hook 'em accountants!

Brady Williams and Donna Johnston-Blair Honored

The BBA Honor Roll is an initiative of the Undergraduate Business Council (UBC, the student leadership group) to acknowledge those who perform exceptionally well in the classroom in BBA classes, thus enriching the student experience and setting a standard that we all can aspire to.

We are pleased to announce that Lecturer Donna Johnston-Blair and Assistant Professor Brady Williams were selected for this honor. Especially considering a major factor in the selection is their overall instructor rating in the Course Instructor Survey. It's great to see students recognize our high-quality instructors as we have always focused on hiring the best and brightest.

MPA Program Ranked #1 Graduate Accounting Program

For the 11th year in a row, the MPA Program has been ranked the #1 Graduate Accounting Program in the country by U.S. News and World Report (USN). This marks 25 years in a row the program has ranked in the top five of the USN's survey of best graduate schools.

Gretchen Charrier Awarded 2017 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award

The University of Texas System Board of Regents named seven University of Texas at Austin faculty members as recipients of the 2017 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (ROTA). The awards are the Board of Regents' highest honor and recognize faculty members who have demonstrated extraordinary classroom performance and innovation in undergraduate instruction.

We are extremely proud the Regents chose Department of Accounting Senior Lecturer Gretchen Charrier as one of the 2017 UT Austin ROTA recipients. Gretchen has received numerous teaching awards including the Senate of College Council’s Professor of the Year (2016), the James W. Deitrick Outstanding Accounting Faculty Award (2015), Senate of College Council’s Professor of the Semester (2015), McCombs Faculty Honor Roll (Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring and Fall 2012, Spring and Fall 2011, Fall 2009, Spring and Fall 2008, Fall 2007), the Hank and Mary Harkins Award for Effective Teaching (2013-2014 and 2000-2001), the Texas Blazers Faculty Award (2012, 2003), the Texas Excellence Teaching Award – Texas Exes (2001), Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award, Undergraduate Business Council (2000), Best Professor Award – Alpha Kappa Psi, Professional Business Fraternity (2000). She has served as the MPA internship coordinator since joining McCombs in 1997, a faculty fellow in the Division of Housing and Food Services, a faculty mentor in the Bridging Disciplines Program, a faculty contact in the Career Exploration Center, and a Plan II faculty mentor. Gretchen has served on the Department of Accounting Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship Nomination Committee since 1997, the McCombs School of Business Internship Advisory Council and the Dean’s Faculty Advisory Committee.

For the 2017 ROTA, faculty members underwent a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty members and external reviewers. The review panels considered a range of activities and criteria in their evaluations of a candidate's teaching performance including classroom expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development and student learning outcomes.

Kristen Valentine Receives University Graduate Continuing Fellowship

Accounting doctoral student Kristen Valentine has been selected to receive the University of Texas Graduate Continuing Fellowship for the next year. This competitive fellowship provides a $28,000 stipend for 12 months, health insurance assistance, and tuition assistance for up to nine semester hours for the fall and spring semesters and three for summer.

This is a high honor as students from all across the University are eligible. For a student to be considered, their graduate adviser must submit a nomination to the Graduate School. Faculty review committees evaluate the applications based on major accomplishments since entering Graduate School, a well-defined program of research, a strong personal statement and letters of recommendation.